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BOEING 777 CRASH IN DONBASS

Lawmaker: MH17 relatives’ lawsuit is part of hybrid war against Russia

Frants Klintsevich said "there was not single evidence proving Russia’s involvement in the Boeing 777 crash near Donetsk"

Frants Klintsevich Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

Frants Klintsevich

© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

BOEING 777 CRASH IN DONBASS

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. A lawsuit filed in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on behalf of relatives of the victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine in 2014 constitutes a part of hybrid war against Russia, said Frants Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of Russia’s Federation Council committee on defense and security.

"I think we have all the grounds to assess the claim objectively, regardless of its authors’ intentions, as an element of the ongoing psychological war against Russia," Klintsevich told reporters on Friday.

The Russian lawmaker said "there was not single evidence proving Russia’s involvement in the Boeing 777 crash near Donetsk."

"The lawsuit against our country is legally null and void and has no prospects," he said, noting "stirring up unnecessary passions, it hampers an unbiased probe into the circumstances surrounding the crash."

Earlier, Reuters reported that an Australian law firm filed a lawsuit in the ECHR on behalf of families of the victims of Flight MH17. The news agency said citing the law firm’s report that the compensation claim named the Russian Federation as a respondent and sought $10mln. The law firm represents 33 relatives of the victims from Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand.

A Boeing 777-200ER of Malaysia Airlines carrying 283 passengers from ten countries and fifteen crewmembers aboard crashed in the east of Ukraine’s Donetsk region on July 17, 2014, while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All the people abroad died. On July 21, 2014 the UN Security Council demanded a thorough and unbiased investigation. The versions of the tragedy most suggest it the misfortunate jet was brought down either by a surface-to-air or air-to-air missile.

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